


The Plus One

by Aliemah



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Awkward Romance, Awkwardness, F/M, Fluff, Wedding Fluff, Willenko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-01 03:52:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8606206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aliemah/pseuds/Aliemah
Summary: Kaidan keeps going with Ashley to all these weddings. It should be awkward for him, except he's slowly realizing how much he likes spending time with her. One of these weddings, he's just going to slip up.





	

It should have been weird to keep going to all these weddings with her. It should have been weird to keep going along with the act that he was her boyfriend. It should have been weird to get excited when she would ask him to go with her.

Yet here they were, sitting side by side at another wedding - her younger sister’s this time - pretending to be in a happy relationship. He glanced over at her, not even paying attention at this point, and saw her seemingly nervously toying with the plain gold band on her middle finger. He gave her a soft nudge.

“You okay?” he whispered. She nodded, and laid her hands flat, looking up again.

It would do for now, but he’d have to ask her about it later. Ashley was never one to be nervous for no reason.

Later at the reception, when it seemed that all the speeches and dances and whatnot were finished, Ashley had gone to talk to her sisters, and mother, not having seen them much lately. He’d been sitting happily on the side, chatting with someone he’d never seen before about some of the newer models of omni-tool, when he happened to catch her eye from across the room. She waved him over quite subtly. Excusing himself from the conversation, he made his way across the room to her.

She glanced over again, her eyes pleading quietly for a rescue from the older man droning on. He stepped in, putting his arm around her waist and kissing her cheek before he made a comment about how they needed to get going if they were going to catch the bus back home. The older man excused himself and she sighed once he was far enough away.

He was a bit surprised when she turned to put her arms around him.

“Thank you so much.” she mumbled.

That voice was familiar to him.

“Let’s go sit.” he nudged her. “How much did you have to drink.”

“Five.” she groaned, straightening her back to walk across the room, somehow managing to make it look effortless while she was leaning heavily on him for support and some sense of stability. He got her in her chair first before he sat beside her, stretching his arm casually over the back of her chair.

“The drinking wouldn’t have anything to do with what you were thinking about earlier, would it?”

“What?” she looked over, offended almost.

“You don’t worry over small things, Ash. Talk to me, what was it?” he lowered his voice some, the topic already more private than it should have been.

“Both my sisters have been married, now.” she shrugged. “I feel like I’m falling behind, or not doing something right. I’ve never even really had a relationship before.”

He took a moment to think about what she’d said, seeing his opportunity but not wanting to come off the wrong way. Plus she wasn’t all there at the moment, and he’d have liked her to be.

“It just... hasn’t been your time, yet. Just because they’ve found someone else doesn’t mean you won’t too.” he moved his arm from the back of the chair to rest on her back, squeezing her shoulder a bit. “Besides, you know I’m not going anywhere.” He felt relief when he saw her smile, and felt her lean against him again.

“I can always count on you to help pick me up.”

“Literally, sometimes.” he smirked, letting her sit back up but not moving his arm.

He was expecting her to get a chill when they left. She always wore the same two dresses to these events, and right now she was wearing a strapless green dress, her shoulders bare along with a significant part of her back. It hadn’t escaped him that there wasn’t a bra strap where there should be one, and the elegance of her bare back in the dress was stunning for him to see. And she’d pulled her hair back with a braid that wrapped back into a bun, just to make sure there wasn’t a mistake of it being habit for her.

“You let me know when you’re ready to head out, alright?” he asked softly, content to sit and watch the crowd from their spot for however long she wanted.

She nudged him maybe an hour later, after drinking some water, and having a bit more food before it was taken away. Ashley was definitely more sober, but not completely. Or maybe it was just that she was tired. Either way, he had to pick her up once they got down just two of the stairs because she nearly fell on her face.

“What would I do without you?” she sighed once she was put down.

“Fall on your face.” he smirked, calling for a cab to take them from the building back to the hotel. It would take a few minutes, so he had a little extra time. As he had predicted, Ashley shivered, and Kaidan shrugged off his jacket, draping it over her shoulders. She hugged it and smiled up at him.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

There had been a couple of times where he’d shown her a little more affection than she might have expected. This was one of those moments, and he pulled her against himself, and even went so far as to kiss her forehead.

“Kaidan?”

“Hm?”

“What was that for?” she sounded exceptionally tired at the moment. He cleared his throat, glancing around for a moment.

“I... I don’t know. I just felt like it.”

“Hm.” she sighed. “I like it.”

Kaidan smiled and held her closer. Once the cab came, he got her in, and then sat down, letting her lean against him and sleep some on the way back to the hotel. Unfortunately, she was close to sleeping and Kaidan had to carry her back entirely, and given her current state, bridal style it was.

Setting her down on the bed, he watched her wake herself up, looking around. He went to grab her some clothes from her bag, and gently tossed them over to her. She grunted and smiled to him.

“Kaidan, would you help me, please?”

“With?”

“My dress.”

He sighed softly, and stepped over with a smile to help her. She stood up with her back to him, a bit wobbly. His arm flew out to steady her, pulling her against himself when that wasn’t enough. When it seemed like she’d regained her balance, he let go of her, unzipping the dress and letting it fall. In fact, he watched it fall, and then let his eyes wander back up the path it had taken.

“Want me to put it up?” he said after a moment, clearing his throat.

“That’d be nice, yeah.” she murmured, quickly reaching to pull the shirt on that he’d grabbed for her, and stepping out of the ring the dress had created when it fell. He picked it up and slowly walked to the small closet, putting the dress back on the hanger it had been on for a few days prior, his eyes still on Ashley.

Just one little thing was all it had taken for him to realize that maybe all the things he’d been feeling weren’t one-sided.

She crawled back onto her bed, now looking very much awake as she sat motionless, staring at a spot on the bed. Kaidan kept an eye on her while he walked across the room, and began undressing himself. By the time he’d finished changing his clothes, and getting himself ready for bed, she still hadn’t moved. He sat in front of her and that seemed to startle her some.

“Everything okay?” he asked. That question was becoming a little too familiar for him.

“I... I don’t know.” she shrugged, still looking stunned.

“Why don’t you go take off your makeup, and I’ll wait out here for you so we can talk.” he said quietly, noticing some of her eyeliner had smudged just a little. She nodded and stood up to do that, not taking more than a minute before she was back. 

Except instead of sitting back in her spot, she practically sat in his lap, throwing her arms around him at the same time before she buried her face in his neck and started sobbing. He didn’t have to think about pulling her closer, and holding her where she was, letting her have a few moments to get this out before he did anything more.

“I don’t want to have to keep lying to people.” she mumbled into the shoulder of his shirt after a few minutes.

“About what?” he asked, though he had a feeling he already knew that answer. Or maybe he was hoping he knew the answer. It was hard to tell.

“Us.”

“Ah...” he nodded, smiling a little to himself.

“What?” she sat up, looking concerned.

“I just...” he chuckled and sighed. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, too. I didn’t want to bring it up, though. I didn’t know how.”

“What do you mean?”

“I love that you want to spend time with me, and drag me to all these things that are relatively boring, or dull. It’s better when you’re around.”

She was silent for a moment, but the look on her face softened as she smiled at him, reaching up to cup his cheek.

“That’s exactly why I bring you along.”

“Sounds like maybe there’s not too much to talk about, then.” he said quietly, leaning in a bit. “If you don’t want to have to lie to people about a relationship between us, I know I wouldn’t mind changing that.”

Ashley smirked, and gently put her hand over his mouth, which was just inches from her own.

“Dinner first.” she said softly. “We’ll see how it goes from there.”

He narrowed his eyes with a smirk, and then quickly pressed his lips to her forehead, followed by a gentle reminder for her to get some sleep.

Little did they know that the next wedding they would be attending would be their own, a short year later, on the very day they had their first date.


End file.
